It was with great reluctance that I returned to Proust's weighty ruminations on a narrow spectrum of subjects, namely aristocratic lineage, the vagaries of love, and homosexuality. Volume 2 encapsulates 'The Guermantes Way' and 'Cities of the Plain', both of which, much like their predecessors, make for exceedingly dull reading. The first part picks up where Proust left off, and details his infatuation with the Duchesse de Guermantes after she nods to him at the opera. As is customary with our highly sensitive narrator and protagonist, he takes to stalking the noble personage until he eventually gets his foot in the door and loses interest. What follows is an overwhelmingly tedious account of fashionable dinner parties and the complete drivel that is exchanged over the table. We hear of Proust's cad military friend, Saint Loup and his obsession with a prostitute, the death of Proust's grandmother, and the social politics surrounding the infamous Dreyfus case, which permeates the book.
Things become a little less boring when the eccentric Baron de Charlus is introduced, a gay sexual predator who quests after lower class young men on lonely trains. After failing to successfully groom the precocious Proust, we are subjected to the most entertaining scene in the book where the furious baron reclining in his dressing gown gives Proust a severe telling off for gossiping. The violent altercation is soon smoothed over and Charlus becomes a primary, recurring character whom Proust later spies on having sexual intercourse with a servant. The voyeuristic scene is an excuse for Proust to embark on a lengthy analysis of the homosexual condition, referred to as 'inversion' here, in which he compares the seductive act to the interaction between flowers and bees in pollination. The second half of this volume mostly deals with Proust's romantic love affair with Albertine, an old flame from the seaside resort of Balbec. Their relationship is a fabrication and sham, since it is well documented that Proust was himself, homosexual. Proust must then deal with extreme jealousy as he learns that his lover is a 'lesbian.'
No comments:
Post a Comment